India to beat US in Internet users in 2014

The number of internet users in India is expected to surpass the number in the United States by the end of 2014, says Rajan Anandan, MD, Google India.

He continued that the number of Indians using the web will be around 500 million in 2018.

Addressing the ‘Digitizing India’ organised by FICCI Ladies Organisation in New Delhi, Mr. Anandan said, “Even at the current growth rate, we will have 500 million Indians on the Internet by 2018. By the end of this year, India will become larger than the US in terms of number of Internet users. By 2018, India will have twice the number of Internet users as the US does. Almost half the country will be connected through the Internet”.

India has more than 200 million users of internet, which is rising at a pace of 5 million per month. The country had 10 million internet users 10 years ago.

He also added that India is growing numbers regularly in online purchases.

He continued saying about the effect of internet in electoral politics, “A lot of people talk about the last elections (2014 general elections) and how urban India was mobilised using the Internet. We have seen nothing yet in terms of what the Internet can do to every aspect of life, of society and of governance. By the next elections (expected in 2019) almost half a billion Indians will be connected through Internet. In terms of the kind of mobilisation, can you imagine what it can do?”